The Russellville Lady Cyclones will play a benefit round-robin game against the Cabot Lady Panthers and the Bryant Lady Hornets today at Cyclone Stadium to kick off the 2014 soccer season.

Russellville Lady Cyclones head coach Kelly Young is excited to see how her team has progressed since last season.

“We’re going to find out what are strengths and weaknesses are on Friday night,” Young said.

This time last year, Young described the 2013 season as a rebuilding year. On the heels of the 2012 Class 6A state championship, Russellville took the field with only three starting seniors.

Yet, the Lady Cyclones steadily improved throughout the season and advanced the the semifinals of the Class 6A state playoffs. Young was pleasantly surprised.

“You know, the year started off real slow,” she said. “We lost 14 seniors who had just won the state tournament. I knew 2013 was going to be a learning year and it was a little frustrating at times to go back to soccer 101, but of all the groups I’ve coached they were probably the most coachable group of kids.

“By the second round of conference games, we were beating teams who had beat us the first time through. I never thought we would have made it to the semifinals. It was unbelievable.”

This year, the Lady Cyclones return all but two starting seniors.

“So we’re basically coming back with the same team,” Young said. “But I feel like we’re starting a lot further along than we did last year. I’d hope to make it to the finals this year.

“I think this group plays with all 11 players. They’re one of the strongest teams I’ve had just because they play so well together as a team. It’s fun to watch. It’s the way soccer is meant to be played.”

The Russellville Cyclones are hoping for retribution for their 2013 loss to the Searcy Lions in the semifinals of the Class 6A state playoffs. The loss marked the first time since 2011 Russellville didn’t make an appearance in the state finals.

“The state tournament is in Russellville this year,” Cyclones head coach Jared Miller said. “We’ll see how they like playing on our turf with our fans yelling at them.”

But first things first.

The Cyclones opened their season on Tuesday inside Cyclone Stadium with a 3-0 win over Little Rock Central — a commanding win, but Fuller said there was plenty of hard work in store for Russellville.

“We have a big gap in our level of play,” he explained.

“We’re not completely rebuilding.

“We have a good group, but we’re not coming into the season with the same expectations we had last year. We’re going to have to work for everything, but these guys have been really showing up and putting in that work.”

Fuller expects the Cyclones’ primary competition to be Searcy and the Siloam Springs Panthers — same as last year. Russellville will count on two center defenders, Braden Bennett and William Crisostomo, to guide them toward their goals. Fuller said other leaders were Miguel Nava, Taylor Allen, Jose Crisostomo and Landon Short.

The Cyclones play next on March 14 when they travel to Conway to take on the Conway Wampus Cats. Games are scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m.